CHEMICAL FORMULAS AND NOMENCLATURE OF COMPOUNDS

A. Chemical Formulas
1. Molecular Formulas
2. Empirical Formula:
a. Empirical Formula of the molecule of element
b. Empirical Formula of compound covalent
c. Empirical Formula of ionic compound

B. Nomenclature of Compounds
1. Binary compounds of metal and non metal
2. Binary compounds of nonmetal and nonmetal
3. Compounds of polyatomic ions

A. Chemical Formulas
What is chemical formula?
Chemical formula is a notation used to state: and

Chemical formula consist of:

a. Element symbol :
b. Index number :

Example:
Chemical Formula Element Symbol Index Number
H2 H 2
H2O H, O
Ar Ar

1. Molecular Formula
What is a molecular formula?
Molecular formula is a notation used to states: and

Type of Molecular
Name of Atom Type of Atom Ratio of Atoms
molecule Formula
Molecule of Hydrogen H 2H H2
element Phosporus
Sulfur
Molecule of Ammonia N, H 1 N atom, 3 H atoms NH3
compound Glucose

2. Empirical Formula
What is an empirical formula?
Empirical formula is a notation used to states: the types and the smallest whole number ratio
of atom
a. Empirical formula of the molecule of element
Element Molecular Formula Empirical Formula
Hydrogen H2 H
Oxygen O2
Phosporus P4
Sulfur S8
Fluorine F2
Chlorine Cl2
Ozone O3

b. Empirical formula of the molecule of covalent compound

Molecule of Molecular Ratio of atoms Smallest whole Empirical
compound formula number ratio of formula
atoms
Buthane C4H10 C : H = 4 : 10 C:H=2:5 C2H5
Glucose C6H12O6
Water H2O
Methane CH4
Propane C3H8
Sucrose C12H22O11

c. Empirical Formula of ionic compound

The smallest ratio of cation
Ionic Type of Type of Empirical
and anion for neutral ionic
compound cation anion formula
compound
Sodium Na+ Cl- 1 Na ion and 1 Cl- ion
+
NaCl
chloride
Magnesium
fluoride
Potassium
oxide
Iron (II) oxide
Iron (III) oxide

*parantheses rule
- ionic compound
a. Kapan tanda kurung digunakan?
Jika ada ion poliatomik dengan nomor indeks > 1
Contoh:
Mengapa kedua H3PO4 tidak menggunakan tanda kurung sementara Ca3(PO4)2?
- H3PO4:
- Ca3(PO4)2:

b. Banyaknya atom dalam Ca3(PO4)2 adalah . . . .

Ca =
P=
 O=

c. Banyaknya atom dalam 2 Ca3(PO4)2 adalah . . . .

Ca =
P=
O=

- Covalent compound
a. Kapan tanda kurung digunakan?

b. Contoh:
Urea
B. Nomenclature of Compounds
The nomenclature of compounds we use today is the IUPAC nomenclature which is based
on the chemical formulas of compounds
1. Nomenclature of Inorganic Compounds:
a. Binary compounds:
- Metal + non metal (ex: NaCl)
- Non metal + non metal (ex: O2, NH3)

b. Polyatomic ions compounds (ex: H2SO4, Ca3(PO4)2)

1. Binary compounds of metal and non metal

1) Binary compounds of metal and non metal are generally called . . . .
2) Metals form cations (positive ions) and nonmetals form anions (negative ions).
Cation of metals Anions of nonmetals (monoatomic)
Metal Cation Name of Nonmetal Anion Name of
cation anion
Lithium Hydrogen
Sodium/Natrium Nitrogen
Potassium/Kalium Oxygen
Magnesium Phosporus
Calcium Sulfur
Barium Selenium
Aluminium Fluorine
Tin/Timah Chlorine
Lead/Timbal* +2 Bromine
+4 Iodine
Copper/Tembaga* Silicone**

Silver/Perak
Gold/Emas*

Zinc/Seng
Chromium

Iron

Nickel
Platinum*

*Stock System is used for metals with more than one charge. Charges are stated in Roman
numerals I, II, III, etc. and written in parantheses after the name of the metal-without
space.
Did You Know?
**Si: metalloids
Metals that tend to form cations with multiple
charges are the , such as, Fe,
Co, Ni, Cr, Cu, And , such as Pb
and Sn (Check again your Periodic System)
 The nomenclature of binary compounds of metals and nonmetals are as follows:
 The naming begins with the name of the metal cation, followed by the name of the
nonmetal anion.

Chemical Name of Nonmetal Name of Name of

Metal cation
formula cation anion anion compound
NaCl Na+ Sodium Cl- Chloride Sodium
chloride
MgF2

Ag2S

 For metals that can forms cations with multiple charges, the charge is stated with a
Roman numeral – written immediately without a space
Example: FeO and Fe2O3 compounds
Fe can forms Fe2+ and Fe3+ cations.
Because oxide (O2-) has a charge of 2-, then:
- The cation in FeO must be Fe2+ in order to . . . .
- The cation in Fe2O3 must be Fe3+ because . . . .
Thus, the name of Fe2O3 is . . . .
Chemical Name of Nonmetal Name of Name of
Metal cation
formula cation anion anion compound
FeO Fe2+ Iron (II) O2- Oxide Iron(II)
oxide
Fe2O3

Cu2O

PbI2

2. Binary compounds of nonmetal and nonmetal

Binary compounds of two nonmetals are generally called molecular compounds.
 The nomenclature of the compounds follows this order:
B-Si-As-C-P-N-H-S-I-Br-Cl-O-F
Examples: HCl (H before Cl)
ClF (Cl before F)
PCl3 (P before Cl)

 The naming begins with the name of the first nonmetal, followed by the name of the
second nonmetal with the suffix –ide (similar to the name of the nonmetal anion).
Example: HCl = hydrogen chloride
ClF =
 If the two nonmetals can form more than one type of compound, then add a Greek
prefix based on the index number in the chemical formula.
 1 = mono 11 = undeca
2 = di 12 = dodeca
3 = tri 13 = trideca
4= 14 = tetradeca
5= 15 = pentadeca
6= 16 = hexadeca
7= 17 = heptadeca
8= 18 = octadeca
9= 19 = nonadeca
10 = 20 = icosa

The prefixes mono (1)-icosa (20) come from the Greek language, except nona (9),
which comes from Latin.

Chemical Formula Name of compound

CO Carbon monoxide
CO2
NO
N2O
PCl3
(phosphorus or phosphor)
P4O10
Note that the prefix mono is not used for the first nonmetal.

 The IUPAC nomenclature doesn’t need to be used for the compounds that have common
names.
For example:
Chemical formula Common name
H2O Water*
NH3
N2H4
*IUPAC name for H2O is . . . .

3. Compounds of polyatomic ions

Many ionic compounds contain polyatomic ions.
Most polyatomic ions are anions, as shown on the table below.
 Most ions end with the suffix –ite or –ate meaning: . . . .
- ite: O<
- ate: O>
Polyatomic ion Name of Polyatomic Ion Polyatomic ion Name of Polyatomic Ion
2-
SO3 Sulfite NO2- Nitrite
2-
SO4 Sulfate NO3-
SbO33- Antimonite PO33- Phosphite
3-
SbO4 PO43-
ClO2- Chlorite AsO33- Arsenite
-
ClO3 AsO43-
 Only OH- and CN- end with the suffix –ide
OH- = hydroxide
CN- =

 Several ions are given the following prefixes:

hypo- : fewest number of O atoms di- : containing two atoms
per- : most number of O atoms thio- : containing sulphur
Polyatomic ion Name of Polyatomic Ion Polyatomic ion Name of Polyatomic Ion
hypo- and per- di-
BrO- Hypobromite CrO42- Chromate
- 2-
BrO3 Bromate Cr2O7 Dichromate
BrO4- Perbromate
-
IO Hypoiodite thio-
IO3- Iodate S2O32- Thiosulfate
-
IO4 Periodate SCN Thiocyanate
ClO- Hypochlorite
-
ClO2 Chlorite
ClO3- Chlorate
-
ClO4 Perchlorate

 The rest are should be memorized

NH4+ = ammonium C2O4- = oxalate
2-
CO3 = carbonate SiO32- = silicate
-
CH3COO = acetic MnO42- = manganate
-
MnO4 = permanganate OCN- = cyanate
-
HCO3 = bicarbonate

 For compounds consisting of metal cation and polyatomic anion, the naming begins with
the name of the metal cation and followed by the name of the polyatomic anion.
Chemical formula Metal cation Polyatomic anion Name of compound

NaOH Na+ OH- Sodium hydroxide

KCN K+ CN- Potassium cyanide
KMnO4 K+ MnO4- Potassium permanganate
Al2(SO4)3 Al3+ SO42- Aluminium sulfate
PbSO4 Pb2+ SO42- Lead(II) sulfate

 For compounds consisting of polyatomic cation and mono/polyatomic anion, the naming
begins with the polyatomic cation, followed by the name of the mono/polyatomic anion.
For example:
NH4Cl : ammonium chloride
NH4OH : ammonium hydroxide
(NH4)2SO4 : ammonium sulfate

Although NH4Cl, NH4CN, and NH4OH are composed of nonmetals, they are ionic compounds
not covalent compounds.
4. Acid compounds
 Acids can be defined as chemical substances that release H+ ion in water.
 Example: HCl dissolved in water
HCl (aq) H+ (aq) + Cl-(aq)
 For binary acids (consisting of 2 different elements: hydrogen first and another element),
the naming begins with the word ‘hydro’ followed without a space by the name of the
other element ending with the suffix –ic. Then add the word ‘acid’
 See the examples below, and note the difference between the nomenclatures for binary
acids and binary molecules of compounds.
Binary molecular compound Binary acid
HCl Hydrochloric acid
HF Hydrofluoric acid
H2S
 For ternery acids (consisting of 3 types of elements: hydrogen first and a polyatomic ion),
the naming begins with the name of the polyatomic anion, followed by the word ‘acid’.
Note that for polyatomic ions that contain O atoms, replace the suffix –ate with –ic and the
suffix –ite with –ous.
Polyatomic ion Name of Ternery acid Name of ternery acid
polyatomic ion
CN- Cyanide HCN Cyanide acid
2-
SO3 Sulfite H2SO3 Sulfurous acid
SO42- Sulfate H2SO4 Sulfuric acid
CO32- Carbonate H2CO3 Carbonic acid
-
CH3COO Acetate CH3COOH Acetic acid

5. Hydrates
 Solid crystal compound CuSO4 can absorb water (H2O) molecules from the air and form a
compound with a chemical formula of CuSO4 x H2O
 This formula indicates that there are 5 H2O molecules in each unit of CuSO4 crystal.
 The CuSO4 ∙ 5H2O compound is known as hydrate , while the water molecules are named
crystal water.
 The naming of hydrates begins with the name of the compound, followed by the word
‘hydrate’ precede with a Greek prefix indicating the number of H2O molecules.
 Examples:
Crystal water

CuSO4 ∙ 5H2O

The (.) sign, which is placed higher than usual shows that the crystal waters are
weakly bonded
 Chemical formula Name of hydrate Common name
CuSO4 ∙ 5H2O Copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate Blue vitrol (terusi)
CaSO4 ∙ 2H2O Calcium sulfate dihydrate Gypsum
CaCl2 ∙ 6H2O Calcium chloride hexahydrate -
MgSO4 ∙ 7H2O Magnesium sulfate Epsom salt
heptahydrate
Na2CO3 ∙ 10H2O Sodium carbonate decahydrate Washing soda / Soda Ash

2. Nomenclature of Organic Compounds:

 The simplest organic compound is hydrocarbon which consists of only C and H atom.
The naming begins with a prefix that corresponds to the number of C atoms, followed
by the suffix –ane.
Chemical formula Number of C atoms Prefixes Nama of compound
CH4 1 Meth- Methane
C2H6 2 Et- Ethane
C3H8 3 Prop- Propane
If an atom or a group of atoms in a hydrocarbon is substituted with another
atom/group of atoms, the nomenclature is as follows:
Chemical formula Name of compound
If H atom is substituted with –OH, replace CH3OH Methanol
the suffix –ane with –anol
If H atom is substituted with halogen CH3Cl Chloromethane
atoms (F, Cl, Br, I), add prefix `halo-‘ (fluoro CH2Cl2 Dichloromethane
chloro, , bromo, iodo). CHCl3 Trichloromethane
If >1 H atom are substituted with halogen CCl4 Tetrachloromethane
atoms of the same kind, then add prefix di-,
tri-, tetra-, etc.
If H atom is substituted with –NH2, replace CH3NH2 Methylamine
the suffix –ane with –amine
If H atom is substituted with –NO2, add CH3NO2 Nitromethane
prefix nitro-
If –CH3 is substituted with –COOH, the HCOOH Methanoic acid
naming begins with the name of the
compound with the suffix ‘-oic’, followed by
the word ‘acid’

 Another important organic compound is ‘benzene’ which has a chemical formula of

C6H6. Note the nomenclature of the compound if one H atom is substituted with another
atom/group of atoms.
Chemical formula Name of compound Common name
C6H6 Benzene -
C6H5OH Hydroxibenzene phenol
C6H5Cl Chlorobenzene -
C6H5NH2 Aminobenzene Aniline
C6H5NO2 Nitrobenzene -
C6H5COOH Carboxylic acid benzene Benzoic acid
C. Chemical Equations
1. Write down the complete chemical equation of solid zinc metal (Zn) with hydrochloric
acid (HCl) solution forming zinc chloride (ZnCl2) solution and hydrogen (H2) gas.

2. A sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution reacts with a phosphoric acid (H3PO4) solution.
The reaction produces a sodium phosphate (Na3PO4) solution and water (H2O).

3. Gold can be separated from gold containing rocks by passing air and a sodium cyanide
solution through the rocks. In the process, the gold will dissolve according to the
following reaction.
Au(s) + NaCN(aq) + O2(g) + H2O → NaAu(CN)2(aq) + H2O2(aq) + NaOH(aq)